


Savour

by irisadler



Series: Sensorium [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Food, M/M, POV Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 01:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15232776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irisadler/pseuds/irisadler
Summary: Alec thought he knew what food was: Fuel. Obviously.Magnus has shown him it can be so much more.





	Savour

**Author's Note:**

> Part 5 of my ficlet battle with [la_muerta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_muerta/pseuds/la_muerta).
> 
> Many thanks to la_muerta for sitting on your amazing counterpart oneshot for, uhhh, a million years while you waited (and waited and waited) on me. What has it been? A month??? Ergh. SORRY it took me so long to get this written and edited! You. Are. Wonderful!
> 
> My prompt was taste.

Alec and food have an understanding. Food is fuel. He eats it because he has to, because his body requires it, because just like every other machine, he requires input to support his output. And for many years, that’s all he thinks of himself. Of food. A tool to serve a purpose. Carry out his duty. Fight with honour. Acquit himself well. Follow orders. Protect those he loves.

For Magnus - _with_ Magnus - food is different.

Over the past few months, they’ve been to every restaurant in New York and many outside the city. Near and far. Places Alec had only read about. In that time, he’s learned food is so much more than fuel, more than he knew it could be.

Food is adventure.

Magnus has a fondness for street food, Alec has discovered. So in addition to trying out restaurants of all kinds, from fine dining to hole-in-the-walls where the owners greet Magnus by name, they’ve slurped down ramen in Kyoto, brik in Tunis, jianbing in Beijing, aloo tikki in Delhi, tteokbokki in Seoul, and much more. They’ve smelled the aromas and tasted the flavours of every place they’ve visited. Not everything has been Alec’s favourite, but he’s enjoyed every single moment of their explorations.

Food is fun.

Just last week, Magnus dragged him to a mundane state fair, where they went on rides until they were dizzy. Magnus bet him a blowjob that he couldn’t try one of every fried food on offer. Naturally, Alec couldn’t back down from a challenge like that, so they gorged themselves on funnel cakes, corn dogs, and more until Alec couldn’t have fought a demon if his life depended on it. In the end, they were too full for blowjobs, but they were too damn happy to care. And Alec made sure to collect his winnings the next day…

Because food is also pleasure.

It’s definitely not something Alec would’ve ever expected to be into, and certainly not something he requires for a good time, but he’s had fun exploring all manner of things with Magnus, including incorporating food into their sex life. He still doesn’t like alcohol, but he has pleasant - if fuzzy - memories of doing body shots out of Magnus’ navel. They spent a rather sticky evening seeing how whipped cream and fudge sauce tasted when licked off each other’s bodies. But so far, Alec’s favourite things have been the simplest: the taste of whiskey on Magnus’ tongue and the salt that clings to his skin when they kiss and cuddle in the afterglow.

Food is to be savoured.

Growing up, mealtimes were uncomfortable experiences. Alec got into the habit of bolting his food so he could escape the dinner table. As he got older, there were practical reasons to keep up the habit. Demons didn’t take mealtimes into account, and the Institute often needed one or all of them to grab their weapons and join the fray at a moment’s notice.

Magnus never says a damn thing about it, but Alec finds himself eating slower on their dates, finds himself paying more attention to what he’s eating. It’s partly because they keep trying new foods and he just didn’t know food could be so good or so varied. It’s also because, with Magnus, food is something to take your time with, something to _enjoy._ And Alec doesn’t really realise what that means until he finds himself sitting cross legged on a pallet in a Bedouin tent on his birthday, smiling and nodding along to a conversation he doesn’t comprehend. Somewhere in the middle of eating tender chicken, fluffy rice, and crispy potatoes off a huge communal platter with soft pieces of flatbread, he looks up and grins at the youngest daughter, who grins right back at him, the language of food and joy and companionship needing no translation. As they leave the tent later, hand in hand, Alec looks up at the spectacular desert sky, then at Magnus. “That was… an experience,” he says quietly. Magnus just nods, as though he understands.

Food is love.

Magnus cooks for Alec. Cooks _with_ Alec. After learning the truth about his disastrous stew, Alec is determined to improve his skills in the kitchen. At first, Magnus focuses on what’s simple. Fried eggs. Rice. A quick chicken dish. A simple saute method for making almost any vegetable taste good. But that isn’t enough for Alec. He pushes Magnus, wanting to know more, wanting to know what _Magnus_ likes to eat. And so, Magnus shows him.

It takes Alec a while to realise, but eventually he puts the pieces together. Magnus is sharing with him, sharing his memories of his homeland and his mother, of happier days. Because, in the kitchen, those things come out too. There are long pauses and more than a few tears and some experiments that end with hugs and takeout. But there are other days that consist of food fights and tickling and kissing the spices from each other’s lips and tongues. And those days are good too. But Alec loves all their kitchen days equally because he’s realised that Magnus isn’t just sharing recipes or memories with him, as wonderful as those things are. Magnus is sharing _himself_ , and that gift is worth more to Alec than anything.

But along the way, even though Magnus is terribly distracting, Alec learns to cook as well. And when he makes nasi goreng for Magnus’ birthday, he sees the way Magnus’ eyes light up, the way he cuts off Alec’s apology - for choosing something so simple, for not being sure it turned out right - with a kiss… and Alec thinks maybe Magnus understands what he’s trying to say.


End file.
